Cris Staedler, Monterey

I read with interest the article about a proliferation of recently reported Cal-Am bill spikes in our area. We have recently experienced the exact same situation with one of our commercial tenants on Lighthouse Avenue in Monterey.

The Cutting Center is a barber shop that has been located in our building and has operated basically the same way every day since 1985. They lease approximately 1,200 square feet with one restroom with the same number of employees and a consistent customer base. The owners are on-site working every day. In short, they are very attuned to what is happening with their business.

Over the years they have consistently used approximately 5 units per month.

A couple of weeks ago, a Cal-Am representative visited their business and informed them that they had used an excessive amount of water in the prior month. Instead of the regular and consistent 5 units, they had used 250 units in the prior month. The Cal-Am representative insisted that they had a massive water leak associated with their business. He proceeded to search the premises for a leak, but could not find one. He ran a leak test on the one toilet in the business and found no leaks. He checked the rate of flow on the meter and found no flow, further indicating that there were no leaks. He insisted that there was nothing wrong with the meter and that there must be a massive leak under the building that could not be seen. This seemed odd since the building is built on a concrete slab and the plumbing is in the walls and ceiling of the business.

In short, the Cal-Am representative was not able to find a leak and could not explain what would cause the water use for this commercial customer to increase 5,000 percent from 375 gallons per month to over 18,000 gallons per month.

In response, the business owners contacted Cal-Am customer service and were treated rudely and told that there was nothing they could do about it. The business owners hired a reputable plumber to check out all the plumbing and no leak was detected. They continued to monitor the water meter on a daily basis and found it to be operating consistently with their normal average monthly usage of 5 units per month. In short, they have not found any leaks and the water meter is now showing normal average monthly usage once again.

The Cutting Center received their bill yesterday and it was almost $1000; much higher than the normal $40 per month they have always paid. The business owners contacted Cal-Am again and were told that the only way they could get an adjustment on their bill is if they can provide evidence that there was a significant leak associated with their water meter, which they cannot.

Based on the article in the paper this morning, this story appears to exactly emulate other recent stories of customers receiving abruptly spiking water bills with no apparent explanation for the "alleged" increase in water use and then the rates inexplicably drop to former levels after their spikes. This is clearly a situation where " there are bills in one single month that appear to be atypical" according to written comments made by Cal-Am President Robert MacLean. Clearly, there is something wrong, as at least partially acknowledged by their President, Robert MacLean. However, Cal-Am employees continue to treat their customers rudely and with no intent to help them figure out what went wrong.

I just wanted to take this opportunity to share this story with you on behalf of our tenants, The Cutting Center.